Sri Lanka win toss, opt to bat first against Bangladesh

Coming off a disappointing World Cup campaign, where they finished at eighth spot in 10-team tournament, Bangladesh faced serious criticism and it is said the pain could be healed if they can win the series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lankan soil.They did their first job perfectly—beating Sri Lanka Cricket Board President’s XI by 5 wickets, chasing 283-run target in warm-up game.

However, Bangladesh are yet to win any bilateral ODI series in Sri Lanka though they settled for draw in the last two editions.

Tigers are taking confidence as they crushed Sri Lanka by 137 runs in the last match they played against them in Asia Cup in 2018 while they have won some T20 matches at Lankan soil also, making them absolute favourites against Sri Lanka in recent time.

But the overall stat is still in Lankan’s favour. Out of the 45 ODIs played between the two sides, Bangladesh won just 7, while Sri Lanka grabbed victory in 36. The other two matches were washed out.

If the last five encounters between the two sides are taken into consideration, it is not one sided as Bangladesh won two while losing three.

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mohammad Mithun, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Rubel Hossain, 10 Shafiul Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Avishka Fernando, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Pradeep, 10 Lahiru Kumara, 11 Lasith Malinga